Successful polishing process makes progress toward MEMS capability. (News Briefs).A NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. scientist succeeded in using a chemical mechanical polishing methodology developed at Stockton College, NJ, to polish tungsten-coated silicon wafers wafers compressed roughage in flat plates useful for feeding to animals in transit. . The specific need is for a high quality, uniform optical polish as a means of establishing the features of a silicon-based micro-electrical-mechanical system (MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) Tiny mechanical devices that are built onto semiconductor chips and are measured in micrometers. In the research labs since the 1980s, MEMS devices began to materialize as commercial products in the mid-1990s. ). This advancement in the polishing process is significant in that it is one of several critical and challenging steps in a multi-laboratory effort to develop and demonstrate an internal NIST capability to produce MEMS devices. The initial NIST test case and objective is a MEMS hotplate. During a 1999 sabbatical sab·bat·i·cal also sab·bat·ic adj. 1. Relating to a sabbatical year. 2. Sabbatical also Sabbatic Relating or appropriate to the Sabbath as the day of rest. n. A sabbatical year. at NIST, a Stockton College staff member developed the polishing approach and process parameters as a means of precisely controlling the weight of prototypes and tungsten-based mass standards. The NIST scientist made the necessary connection between the earlier work and the current need for polishing silicon-based artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. . Notably, prior to these results, the plan was to use a commercial process for this task that was proving very difficult. CONTACT: Michael McGlauflin, (301)975-3746; michael.mcglauflin@nist.gov. |
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